Tri-Ads Review: Nineteen tiers of matrix cycler Ponzi

There is no information on the Tri-Ads website indicating who owns or runs the business.

The Tri-Ads website domain (“tri-ads.com”) was registered on the 3rd of February 2015, listing a “James Lawson” as the owner. An address in the US state of Delaware is also provided.

A Facebook post on by Lawson (right) on Aprl 30th suggests that he is indeed the owner of the company:

Just put this site in Pre-Launch yesterday… Some promo videos for it…

Another opportunity advertised on Lawson’s Facebook profile is Global Mobile Network. Whether the prelaunch of Tri-Ads means Lawson is no longer involved in GMN is unclear.

Ditto why Lawson’s ownership of Tri-Ads is not provided on the company’s website.

Read on for a for a full review of the Tri-Ads MLM business opportunity.

The Tri-Ads Product Line

Tri-Ads has no retailable products or services, with affiliates only able to market affiliate membership with the opportunity itself.

Once signed up Tri-Ads affiliates can invest in matrix positions, with advertising credits bundled with each position.

These credits can then be used by affiliates to display advertising on the Tri-Ads website.

The Tri-Ads Compensation Plan

The Tri-Ads compensation plan sees affiliates invest in a series of matrix positions, with cycle commissions paid when subsequent positions are invested in.

Note that the repurchase balance appears to be funds withheld for purchase of new matrix positions, whereas the subscription balance is depleted daily if an affiliate has open Daily Subscription Plan positions.

Tri-30 Plan (30 cents)

Positions in Tri-Ads’ Tri-30 Plan are thirty cents. Affiliates can purchase positions directly or via cycling out of the Subscription Explosion Plan (Phase 2) or Daily Subscription Plan (Phase 2).

Phases in the Tri-30 Plan use 5×1 matrices, which require five additional positions to be filled before a position cycles out and a commission is paid.

• Phase 1 (positions cost 30 cents) – once five additional positions are filled pays 50 cents and cycles into Phase 2
• Phase 2 – once five additional positions are filled pays $1 and cycles into Phase 3
• Phase 3 – once five additional positions are filled pays $5 and cycled into Phase 4
• Phase 4 – once five additional positions are filled pays $5, provides a new Bonus Booster Plan position (Phase 1) and cycles into Phase 5
• Phase 5 – once five additional positions are filled pays $20, $75 is withheld in the repurchase balance and cycles into Phase 6
• Phase 6 – once five additional positions are filled pays $100, $150 is withheld in the repurchase balance, $75 is withheld in the subscription balance, provides fifty new Tri-30 Plan positions (Phase 1), five new Booster Plan positions (Phase 1), four new Sub-Charger Plan positions (Phase 1), two new Subscription Explosion Plan positions and cycles into Phase 7
• Phase 7 – once five additional positions are filled pays $200, $300 is withheld in the repurchase balance, $200 is withheld in the subscription balance, provides one hundred new Tri-30 Plan positions (Phase 1), five new Booster Bonus Plan positions (Phase 1), four Sub-Charger Plan positions (Phase 1), two new Explosion Plan positions (Phase 1) and cycles into Phase 8
• Phase 8 – once five additional positions are filled pays $500, $900 is withheld in the repurchase balance, $500 is withheld in the subscription balance, provides two hundred and fifty new Tri-30 Plan positions (Phase 1), ten new Bonus Booster Plan positions (Phase 1), eleven new Sub-Charger Plan positions (Phase 1), eleven new Subscription Explosion Plan positions and cycles into Phase 9
• Phase 9 – once five additional positions are filled pays $1000, $1800 is withheld in the repurchase balance, $1000 is withheld in the subscription balance, provides five hundred new Tri-30 Plan positions (Phase 1), twenty new Booster Bonus Plan positions, twenty-two new Sub-Charger Plan positions (Phase 1), twenty-two new Subscription Explosion Plan positions (Phase 1) and cycles into Phase 10
• Phase 10 – once five additional positions are filled pays $10,000, $2700 is withheld in the repurchase balance, $3000 is withheld in the repurchase balance, provides one thousand Tri-30 Plan positions (Phase 1), fifty Bonus Booster Plan positions (Phase 1), fifty Sub-Charger Plan positions (Phase 1) and twenty-five Subscription Explosion Plan positions (Phase 1)

Bonus Booster Plan ($10)

As with the Tri-30 Plan, the two matrices used in the Bonus Booster Plan are also 5×1 matrices.

• Phase 1 (positions cost $10) – once five additional positions are filled cycles into Phase 2 and $10 is withheld in the subscription balance
• Phase 2 – once five additional positions are filled pays $75 commission, $75 withheld in the repurchase balance, cycles into Sub-Charger Plan (Phase 1) and provides a new $10 Bonus Booster Plan position (Phase 1)

Sub-Charger Plan ($25)

Tri-Ads affiliates can buy positions in the Sub-Charger plan for $25, or cycle into it via Phase 2 of the Bonus Booster Plan (see above).

Like the Bonus Booster Plan, matrices used in the Sub-Charger plan are 5x1s.

• Phase 1 (positions cost $25) – once five additional positions are filled pays $25, $25 withheld in the subscription balance, cycles into Phase 2 and provides a new Sub-Charger Plan position (Phase 1)
• Phase 2 – once five additional positions are filled pays $50, $25 withheld in the subscription balance, cycles into Phase 3 and provides a new Sub-Charger Plan position (Phase 1)
• Phase 3 – once five additional positions are filled pays $350, $80 withheld in the repurchase balance, $175 withheld in the subscription balance, provides two new Sub-Charger Plan positions (Phase 1), two new Bonus Booster Plan positions (Phase 1) and cycles into Subscription Explosion Plan

Subscription Explosion Plan ($50)

Tri-Ads’ Subscription Explosion Plan another series of 5×1 matrix phases. Affiliates can either purchase Subscription Explosion Plan positions directly for $50, or cycle into the plan out of the Sub-Charger Plan (Phase 3).

• Phase 1 (positions cost $50) – once five additional positions are filled pays $50, provides one new Sub-Charger Plan position (Phase 1), two new Bonus Booster Plan positions (Phase 1) and cycles into Phase 2
• Phase 2 – once five additional positions are filled pays $400, $50 withheld in the subscription balance, $150 withheld in the repurchase balance, provides five new Bonus Booster Plan positions (Phase 1), one new Sub Charger Plan position (Phase 1), one new Sub Explosion Plan position (Phase 1) and fifty new Tri-30 Plan positions (Phase 1)

Daily Subscription Plan ($75)

The Daily Subscription Plan operates independently of the other Tri-Ads plans, in that it cannot be directly cycled into.

Instead affiliates can only fund positions in the plan by purchasing them directly for $75.

Each $75 purchase is for a 15 day subscription, which sees one new $5 position created daily.

Once again, the Daily Subscription Plan uses a 5×1 matrix structure, requiring five additional positions to be filled for every new position created.

• Phase 1 (individual positions cost $5) – once five additional positions are filled $5 is withheld in the subscription balance and cycles into Phase 2
• Phase 2 – once five additional positions are filled pays $50, $10 is withheld in the subscription balance, provides one new Sub-Charger Plan position (Phase 1), one new Bonus Booster Plan position (Phase 1) and ten new Tri-30 Plan positions (Phase 1)

Referral Commissions

Referral commissions in Tri-Ads are paid when personally recruited affiliates cycle out of various Phases in the matrix plans above:

• Tri-30 Plan – $5 paid on a Phase 5 cycle, $10 on a Phase 6 cycle, $20 on a Phase 7 cycle, $100 on a Phase 8 cycle, $200 on a Phase 9 cycle and $1000 on a Phase 10 cycle
• Bonus Booster Plan – $15 on a Phase 2 cycle
• Sub-Charger Plan – $25 on a Phase 3 cycle
• Subscription Explosion Plan – $5 on a Phase 1 cycle and $10 on a Phase 2 cycle
• Daily Subscription Plan – $2 on a Phase 2 cycle

Joining Tri-Ads

Affiliate membership with Tri-Ads is $5.

Affiliates must invest in matrix positions if they wish to participate in the compensation plan, adding an additional minimum 30 cent cost.

Conclusion

Gone are the days when you could sit down and get your head around a matrix-based MLM opportunity in a few minutes.

These days you need a PHD in mathematics…

If we put aside all the phases and matrix names, essentially Tri-Ads is the same old “transfer new affiliate money off existing investors”, making it a Ponzi scheme.

The basic idea is you have three regular matrix cyclers, a cheap but huge ten-tier one and a daily subscription matrix tacked on the end.

The idea is that withheld funds and phantom positions keep everything turning, but mathematically Tri-Ads still requires new funds being pumped into the system in order to pay out commissions.

And speaking of mathematics… it’s pretty bad.

The Tri-30 Plan alone is a joke, with a total payout across ten phases requiring a minimum 39,438 30 cent positions to be purchased. And in reality that figure is much higher when referral commissions are factored in.

And not only that, but a staggering 1900 Tri-Cycle Phase 1 positions are created from a single position cycling through all ten Tri-Cycle phases.

To put what that means into perspective, the cycling of all phantom positions created by just one Tri-Cycle position cycling through all ten phases requires an minimum  74.9 million additional positions.

And what each of those positions need to cycle?

Yeah… you get the idea.

And it gets worse, seeing as each Tri-Cycle position also generates a bunch of phantom positions in Tri-Ads other matrices too.

I have seen some talk about a “randomizer” being used to decide the order in which positions are added to the Tri-Ads cycles upon launch, but personally I think that’s a load of baloney.

Quite obviously only the earlier positions are going to generate a ROI, so either James Lawson has a preallocated bunch of positions outside of randomization, or whatever randomization may take place isn’t as random as Tri-Ads investors are lead to believe.

In any event, across all matrix tiers Tri-Ads operates as a Ponz scheme. This means that, despite the complex nature of the compensation plan, that one new investment dries up (affiliates stop buying positions), Tri-Ads’ matrices are going to stall.

The repurchase balance will keep things ticking along for a bit, but all they’re doing there is reallocating a fixed pool of funds elsewhere. The phantom positions created here a ridiculous and will soon bog the system down once a few cycle rotations have been completed.

Refunds –

There will be NO refunds granted.

One final note: Although I wasn’t able to initially link anything other than Global Mobile Network affiliate membership to James Lawson, according to chatter on social media this isn’t his first rodeo:

Ive known both Vicki and James, and have had them both on skype for several years, and let me tell you. What they say is what they mean.

Ive been a member of several programs of theirs over the years.

“Vicki” refers to Vicki Gardner, who appears to be co-adminning Tri-Ads with Lawson.

They ran/run Cooperative Achievement Plan (CAP) and as part of that program.. they opened and failed with BUKU .. (And I am sure there was another one right after Buku.. but for the life of me I cannot remember what it was called..).

Mind u I believe they blamed the failure of Buku on lack of member support.. But IMO it was a poorly designed plan.

These guys know exactly what they’re doing… that being to extract as much of your money as possible before Tri-Ads collapses shortly after launch.